Hiya,
got my Pearl a couple days ago and it's awesome...except fan noise, I already wrote to the shop I got it from about it but I wanted to verify if it's really abnormally loud.
Now I should mention I have it ceiling mounted, so upside down since I think that may play into it.

The sound it makes is a low humming....like a high voltage transformator (kinda like someone standing behind you going "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" all the time). Now if I put the fan on high it get's really loud....if I put the lamp on low (so the fan slows down as well) the sound gets a tad quieter but the frequency goes down as well which makes it even more annyoing.

Of course I can't hear it during action scenes or scenes with music, but whenver there are dialogue scenes without music it's annoying.

Any of you who own Pearls and have them ceiling mounted (upside down) can tell me if they heard something similar ? The Pearl I saw in the shop for a demo before I bought one was sitting on a table and I am pretty sure it was totally quiet with high lamp setting, so I wonder if the upside down mounting might have some influence....or if the thing is broken right from the start which would suck :(

Thanks
Jaks

Jaks,

I saw a ceiling mounted Pearl in Magnolia in Emeryville, CA last week. It seemed very quiet even with the sound off. This is the only Pearl I've seen in person and I don't own one, so take it for what it's worth.

Dave

Jaks
Have you had a projector before?
Face it, projectors are not dead silent. In economy mode I have not heard that Pearl is anything but quiet.

solutions
1 hush box
2 project through the back wall

I am wondering the same thing.

The first time I fired up my "pearl" I didn't even think it was on.

After about two hours of viewing, it started the low level hum. It still isn't even close to my older Infocus 7200. That thing sounded like a blender at times.

Are you getting the weird smell of burning plastic? I know it has been addressed before here on AVS but I wonder if something got stuck in the fan?? I have about 30 hours on my "pearl" and I still have the burning smell.

I would like to take it apart and just check, but that scares the #$!Q out of me.

Hiya,
got my Pearl a couple days ago and it's awesome...except fan noise, I already wrote to the shop I got it from about it but I wanted to verify if it's really abnormally loud.
Now I should mention I have it ceiling mounted, so upside down since I think that may play into it.

The sound it makes is a low humming....like a high voltage transformator (kinda like someone standing behind you going "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" all the time). Now if I put the fan on high it get's really loud....if I put the lamp on low (so the fan slows down as well) the sound gets a tad quieter but the frequency goes down as well which makes it even more annyoing.

Of course I can't hear it during action scenes or scenes with music, but whenver there are dialogue scenes without music it's annoying.

Any of you who own Pearls and have them ceiling mounted (upside down) can tell me if they heard something similar ? The Pearl I saw in the shop for a demo before I bought one was sitting on a table and I am pretty sure it was totally quiet with high lamp setting, so I wonder if the upside down mounting might have some influence....or if the thing is broken right from the start which would suck :(

Thanks
Jaks

That doesn't sound right.
Do you have a RS sound meter? If so measure it with all audio off in a quiet room and see if it's way over spec - I think it should be around 23db in low mode.

My PJ specs at 26db and I can't hear it even if there's just ambient noise in the film and definitely not when there's dialogue and I've got a very quiet room.

Don´t measure sound. I doubt the measurement will correspond to test specifications and that a cheap sound meter will give accurate readings.
If it gets warmer in the room after a while the fan speed needs to increase to keep the projector at a designed temperature.

Plastic smell should wear off.

Don´t measure sound. I doubt the measurement will correspond to test specifications and that a cheap sound meter will give accurate readings.
If it gets warmer in the room after a while the fan speed needs to increase to keep the projector at a designed temperature.

Plastic smell should wear off.


I wasn't suggesting that an accurate measurement was required, I suggested it as a point of reference - for instance if it's putting out 40db then there's most likely a problem with the PJ regardless how accurate the meter is. (I doubt it would be more than 1 or 2db out at worst)

I am wondering the same thing.

The first time I fired up my "pearl" I didn't even think it was on.

After about two hours of viewing, it started the low level hum. It still isn't even close to my older Infocus 7200. That thing sounded like a blender at times.

Are you getting the weird smell of burning plastic? I know it has been addressed before here on AVS but I wonder if something got stuck in the fan?? I have about 30 hours on my "pearl" and I still have the burning smell.

I would like to take it apart and just check, but that scares the #$!Q out of me.

The Pearl makes noise? ;)

Seriously, I've never heard it, even playing with silent test patterns, and it's ceiling mounted 24" above and about 6" behind my head.

I have 34 hours on my unit, and I haven't smelled the "warm plastic" smell for the last 20...

Jaks- I have experienced the exact same thing. I think the problem is the frequency of the
noise, not the absolute level. Coming from a Benq PE8700. The Pearl is clearly quieter,
but the Benq has a higher frequency noise (both from the fan and the color wheel). This
higher frequency is easily covered up by movie dialogue. The Pearl, unfortunately, seems
to be at a pitch much below voice level and so it can be easily be heard during dialogue only
sections of a movie.

Yep Bret22, my thoughts exactly. The lower frequency makes it more audible over other sounds.

The only shadow over the glory that is the Pearl, hehe ;)

Btw, I came from that old Sony 180k pixel projector, went to some 300k Sharp I think, then some 800x600 Philips, then the 720p Yamaha and now the Pearl. Pearl is the quietest by far, just the remaining sound is a tad more annoying than the others.
Gonna think it over and see if I can come up with something to solve this little prob.

Will also see if I can get a noisemeter, but the ones I saw only start measuring at 35db at best, don't want to spent a fortune on one of these things.

Yep Bret22, my thoughts exactly. The lower frequency makes it more audible over other sounds.

The only shadow over the glory that is the Pearl, hehe ;)

Btw, I came from that old Sony 180k pixel projector, went to some 300k Sharp I think, then some 800x600 Philips, then the 720p Yamaha and now the Pearl. Pearl is the quietest by far, just the remaining sound is a tad more annoying than the others.
Gonna think it over and see if I can come up with something to solve this little prob.

Will also see if I can get a noisemeter, but the ones I saw only start measuring at 35db at best, don't want to spent a fortune on one of these things.

Don't bother with the noise meter. If it's quiter than any of the others then you're most likely dealing with the harmonics as Bret22 suggests. A simple solution might be an acoustic panel or foam on the ceiling where the first reflection point might be to your sitting area. Try something temporary, like a folded towel before you spend any bucks on a permanent solution.

I went from a Mits HC3000U which had a higher frequency sound. The Pearl frequency was noticeable right away even though it was quieter. I became used to it after a week. Not a big deal.

As anybody gotten a chance to compare the Pearl’s noise level with that of a Ruby? (I do not think “simple” dB specs can really describe the nuisance level of those cooling fans.)

FWIW, I find my Ruby extremely quiet, IF operated in a cool environment and in normal, i.e. not in high altitude mode.
______
Axel

My Pearl is absolutely silent. It is mounted right above my head, about 4 feet above my seating position. I had to stand on a chair and put my ear right by it to hear it. The one at the HT store where I bought it was the same. I would definately return it and get a replacement.

I bought a used model from Nov 06 a few days ago. Mine is exactly is Jaks describes. There is no way I'd say I have to stand on a chair with my ear to it to hear it, it's more like a distant squadron of Lancaster bombers, more irritating because of a beat frequency on low lamp than high. I'm considering what to do, as I know it should be quieter, but I don't want to be without that fantastic picture! The serial no. starts 2000xxx IIRC.

(I've had Pana AE900 and Hitachi TX200 before so I know what they're supposed to sound like.)

Room acoutsics plays a big part in the percieved noise level. My perception at the dealer demo was that the Pearl was silent. The same unit in my HT produces a low freq drone in low lamp that I can hear from several feet if the room is otherwise quiet. Due to some QC issues I ended up having four different units and all produced a similar noise level. That said the Peal is pretty quiet as PJ's go but not silent by any stretch.

Dazzer